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As Hurricane Irma reached Collier County, and winds started to bend the trees in Immokalee, town residents waited for the storm to pass Sunday afternoon at shelters, their homes, at a hotel in Alabama after a more than 24-hour drive, or even at a hospital after giving birth.

Carolina Morales waited for Hurricane Irma at a hospital with her new-born daughter, Deborah, who on Sunday afternoon wasn’t yet 2 days day old. But Morales, 28, is away from her 8-year-old son, who is in an Immokalee shelter with some friends. And although she feels safe at the hospital, she can't avoid worrying.

“I’m a little worried about my son, but my friend told me he is fine,” she said.
Two days ahead of the storm, on Friday, Morales, a farmworker from Guatemala, couldn’t stand the labor pains any longer. She didn’t have a car or anyone to take to her to the hospital, so an ambulance came to pick her up at the run-down trailer where she lives with her son and eight other tenants.

On Saturday morning, Morales said both she and her baby were fine, but wished her son could be with her.

As Hurricane Irma reached Collier County, and winds started to bend the trees in Immokalee, town residents waited for the storm to pass Sunday afternoon at shelters, their homes, at a hotel in Alabama after a more than 24-hour drive, or even at a hospital after giving birth.

Rodrigo Felipe, a farmworker from Guatemala who lives in a trailer and hadn’t found anywhere to stay during the hurricane on Thursday finally found a shelter on Saturday afternoon after hearing on the Coalition of Immokalee Workers radio station that they should go to the schools, he said. He went to Immokalee High School, he said, but it was full already. They then sent him to another shelter that took him and his five roomates.

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Torrence Andrews, firefighter with Great Naples Fire Rescue Station 72, peers down a road in the Forrest Glen community on Sunday, September 10, 2017 after Hurricane Irma passed and the company was cleared to assess roads for obstructions. The vehicle Rescue 72 became stuck on a median when trying to go around a fallen tree in the road and needed to call to the station to be pulled out.
Katie Klann/Naples Daily News

Torrence Andrews, firefighter with the Greater Naples Fire Rescue Station 72, shines a flashlight on power lines to see if they are damaged on Sunday, September 10, 2017 after Hurricane Irma passed and the company was cleared to assess roads for obstructions.
Katie Klann/Naples Daily News

Thomas Easley, engineer with the Greater Naples Fire Rescue Station 72, slows down next to an RV that flipped onto its side while driving through Club Naples RV Resort on Sunday, September 10, 2017 after Hurricane Irma passed and the company was cleared to assess roads for obstructions.
Katie Klann/Naples Daily News

Lieutenant Manny Arroyo points up to the tree line as he ventures out in the eye of Hurricane Irma at the Greater Naples Fire Rescue Station 72 on Sunday, September 10, 2017. Arroyo wanted to check for the family of deer that lives behind the station.
Katie Klann/Naples Daily News

Thomas Easely, engineer with the Greater Naples Fire Rescue Station 72, shines a flashlight on Benfield Road to look for downed power lines on Sunday, September 10, 2017 after Hurricane Irma passed and the company was cleared to assess roads for obstructions.
Katie Klann/Naples Daily News

Fallen trees, downed power lines, street signs, light poles, and other debris lay scattered across Collier County after the worst part of Hurricane Irma had passed late Sunday September 10, 2017 in Naples, Fla.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Fallen trees, downed power lines, street signs, light poles, and other debris lay scattered across Collier County after the worst part of Hurricane Irma had passed late Sunday September 10, 2017 in Naples, Fla.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Fallen trees, downed power lines, street signs, light poles, and other debris lay scattered across Collier County after the worst part of Hurricane Irma had passed late Sunday September 10, 2017 in Naples, Fla.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Fallen trees, downed power lines, street signs, light poles, and other debris lay scattered across Collier County after the worst part of Hurricane Irma had passed late Sunday September 10, 2017 in Naples, Fla.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Fallen trees, downed power lines, street signs, light poles, and other debris lay scattered across Collier County after the worst part of Hurricane Irma had passed late Sunday September 10, 2017 in Naples, Fla.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Fallen trees, downed power lines, street signs, light poles, and other debris lay scattered across Collier County after the worst part of Hurricane Irma had passed late Sunday September 10, 2017 in Naples, Fla.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

A fallen tree lies on top of a Jeep in the parking lot of the Naples Daily News while the eye of Hurricane Irma passes through North Naples on Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017.
Nicole Raucheisen/Naples Daily News

On Sunday morning, he was nervous despite being in the shelter. The storm, he feared, is very strong.

“We are afraid because there’s a lot of wind and rain,” he said.
He has a little bit of food with him, but he didn’t have enough money to buy more, so he is grateful for the meals he is getting at the shelter — including hamburgers and some chocolate drink.

He doesn’t know if he will have a place to go back to after the storm.

Gloria Padilla, area coordinator for Redlands Christian Migrant Association, says she is concerned that many Immokalee residents won’t have a home to go back to after the storm, especially those who live in trailers and wooden homes. Padilla said she was waiting for the storm to pass with about 60 staffers and their family members at the RCMA’s Immokalee Community School’s building. The building is not an official shelter, but they offered to stay there to their staff. If someone who needs help knocks on their door on Sunday, she said, they won’t refuse to let them in.

“It’s the only right thing to do,” she said.

She says if the worst comes, they have a room and hallway in the second floor of the building with no windows where they would all evacuate. The building architect, she says, told them which ones were the safest rooms to stay. They have food, a generator that her husband brought and a portable A/C unit.

Padilla says she wanted to stay at the school instead of in a shelter because after the storm, families who know where they are and need help may go to their building and she wanted to be there to help. One of the people who are staying there is a nurse.

By now, they are trying to keep everyone calm.

Victor Gomez feels safer now that he managed to get to Alabama on Friday evening after a drive that took him and his family more than 24 hours. Many roads were heavy with traffic, he said. They also had to try 15 hotels in Alabama before they found room in one that away from the main roads.

Nelson Guerra and Austin Aguila, civilian contractors, and Captain Jason Sellers stand in the lanai at the Greater Naples Fire Rescue Station 72 and watch as winds start to pick up on Sunday, September 10, 2017.
Katie Klann/Naples Daily News

From left to right, Aaron Douglas, Aaron Odum and Torrence Andrews stand on the lanai at the Greater Naples Fire Rescue Station 72 and watch as winds start to pick up on Sunday, September 10, 2017 as Hurricane Irma comes closer to Naples.
Katie Klann/Naples Daily News

A man stands outside of the Tuscan Isle Apartments on Sunday, September 10, 2017 as winds begin to pick up from Hurricane Irma. Only a handful of the windows in this complex have shutters installed.
Katie Klann/Naples Daily News

Water begins to pool in ditches and water levels rise in ponds near the Tuscan Isle Apartments on Sunday, September 10, 2017 as winds begin to pick up from Hurricane Irma.
Katie Klann/Naples Daily News

Water begins to pool in ditches and water levels rise in ponds near the Tuscan Isle Apartments on Sunday, September 10, 2017 as winds begin to pick up from Hurricane Irma.
Katie Klann/Naples Daily News

Cory Salmon, right, along with his daughter Corrie, check out Vanderbilt Beach midday Sunday, September 10, 2017 in Naples, Fla. The water along the beach had recessed significantly into the Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Irma made its' way towards the Southwest Florida coast.
Luke Franke/Naples Daily News

Gomez lives with his wife and three children in Immokalee, in a mobile home that has a tree dangerously close. So Gomez, an undocumented construction worker from Guatemala, boarded up his windows, bought gas for his car and is heading to Alabama with a neighbor who is familiar with that State.

On Thursday Gomez said if the hurricane destroys his home, he would have to go back to renting a place. He wasn’t too worried about looters though.

“I’m worried about my children,” he said on Thursday. “You can buy things after. The most important thing is life, life cannot be bought.”

On Sunday afternoon, he felt safe at last.

Danny Gonzalez also felt protected in his Immokalee boarded-up home, where more than a dozen relatives and friends were taking refuge. They have seen the strong winds outside.

“We have a lot of trees come down,” he said.

But he says his home is new and strong, not in a flooding area. On Saturday afternoon, the home had already lost power, but they had generators and were ready to ride out the storm.